Prelude to Sorrow
by letgo
Summary: Set between In Memory Of and My Name is Pan, Prelude to Sorrow tells of the years when Pan lived with her parents. AU.


Prelude to Sorrow

* * *

Revised. The idea came from a few things. One was when Bulma told Bulla that whole cities were going underwater in he episode where Goku and 18 defeat Super 17. Two came from a guy I know whom did his English project on a town that had its population living in a dome in Alaska. Three comes from my own past. Take a guess as to where my past comes into the story, I would really like to see how you guys think of me. I also hope you enjoy this story.

Also, the people may seem OOC (Out Of Character) but this is an AU (Alternate Universe).

I don't own anything you recognize unless it's something original from the other two stories or original in this one!

* * *

"Dad?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's me," he told the boy. They embraced.

"Gohan?" A small voice behind the teen asked. He turned around, tears flowing down his face in two neat little paths, to see Videl. "Are you ready?" She asked. They were leaving, the term was eloping. With her father and his father, it was clear to the two that their families would never understand and always criticize the two. They wouldn't understand how deeply the two were in love and most likely try to tear the two apart.

"Yeah, I am," he answered. They could feel the stares of people as the two walked away, outside to where Videl's helicopter lay in the parking lot. Each had a suitcase in the back behind their seats. They climbed in and Videl started it up. Gohan looked out his window to see people rushing out, staring at the two. With a wave, the two left their pasts behind.

* * *

4 months later

Videl sighed and sat down on the couch of her and Gohan's house. They eloped that night four months prior and now resided in Sea City. She was working in the dome and found that she loved it under the sea. Sea City was probably the most unique and scientifically advanced city in the world. About the only other city that could compete with Sea City was the headquarters of Capsule Corp in West City. Most the people who lived in the dome were scientists, though there were a few, like Videl, who weren't. Most of Sea City was contained within a bubbled dome but parts of it like some housing, the schools, and almost all transportation where outside the half a mile large dome. They'd run out room in the dome and so, parts of the city were located on the surface. Sometimes it made life a pain when you had to travel to the surface, but it was worth living in the undersea marvel.

Gohan walked in and sat his jacket down on a chair, heading to the kitchen, like always.

"Hello to you, too," she said. He stuck his head out and grinned, yelling a hello back. She saw his grin and couldn't stay mad. Something about that goofy grin of his made her feel all mushy and happy inside. He came back a minute later with a sandwich.

"So, anything interesting happen today?" He asked when done eating.

"No, same boring old job," she replied. She helped out in the life area, helping raise animals for consumption.

"We've got some information from Capsule Corp. about one of our inventions," Gohan began. He was one of the many scientists that worked in the dome. Or rather, he was a student who worked there while trying to maintain a college career.

"Really?" She asked, brows shot up in surprise. "Which one?"

"The one that creates air from seawater. They want permission to look at it and try and make it better," he replied.

"What did you tell them?" She asked.

"Maybe," was the reply she received. Rolling her eyes, she got up and looked the window, watching the fish swim past.

"What's wrong?" Gohan asked. Videl seemed to quiet.

"It's nothing, I've just been out of it lately," she answered. More fish swam by and she gazed on. Hearing footsteps, she soon found a familiar hand touch her shoulder.

"Maybe you should see the doctor," he told her, pulling her closer to him.

It's probably nothing," she protested.

"Please?" He begged, turning her around so that their faces almost touched. She looked in his eyes and couldn't find the heart to say no.

"Fine, I'll go," she said, pushing away from him. The next day she went to the doctor's and they ran all kinds of tests on her.

"It's probably nothing, but we'll call you when the test results are in," she was told. Going home, Videl laid on the couch, a migraine coming. Gohan arrived home a while later and found her asleep. Knowing it would most likely be a deadly thing to awake the crime fighting teen, he went into the kitchen and turned on the small television in the room to see the news.

"And here we have to people who have been missing for four months now. The girl is none other than Videl Satan, daughter of the great Hercule. The boy is Son Gohan, son of former Budokai winner Son Goku. Both are 18 years of age and have martial arts training."

He shut off the TV and got up to go wake his wife. She didn't want to wake but she did and the two went out to a nearby restaurant located on the surface.

"SON!" A voice yelled behind them. Gohan turned around, as did Videl. They were on the return walk home.

"Yes, what can I help you with?" Asked Gohan.

"There was an accident in lab 12, they need you immediately," said the guy, a person Gohan worked with.

"I'll meet you home," he told Videl, rushing off to follow the man. She nodded and walked the rest of the way home. Any problems in the dome had to be dealt with immediately or else they could be deadly. Unfortunately for her, but fortunate for the dome, Gohan knew plenty about the dome and how it worked. She sat down and listened as the sirens that alerted everyone to get inside their homes blared. They were so loud that she barely heard the phone ring.

"Son residence, Videl here," she answered.

"Ahh, Mrs. Son, the person I wanted. We have the results in already. We were able to speed rush them and it seems that you are with child. Two months in fact. Well, I must let you be and heavens hope that the sirens stop soon and life prevails in this modern marvel we call a home," the doctor from that afternoon called.

Videl sat still, automatically hanging up the phone but in a dazed kind of mode. Gohan came home to see her asleep on the couch. It was late and he hated leaving her to fend for herself, but sometimes that was necessary. He hated that he never seemed to be there for her. Pulling out a blanket from their bedroom, he covered her up, knowing she wouldn't want to be woken at two in the morning.

Videl yawned and stretched when she woke. Somehow she'd come to have a blanket on her. This puzzled her until she saw Gohan walk by the living room, walking out of the bathroom, hair soaked and laying down on his back instead of sticking up in its gravity defying way. She smiled as she remembered what the doctor had told her the previous night and went into the kitchen. Sitting down at the counter, she watched as Gohan tracked down something to eat.

"G'morning," she heard him mumble.

"Morning," she said sweetly. "Remember how I went to the doctor's yesterday?" She began.

"Yeah," he answered, head in the fridge.

"Well, they took some tests and were able to speed rush the results," she went on.

"Really, that's cool," he said, head in the freezer now. He had yet to look at her.

"Gohan, you might want to sit down," she warned. Pulling his head out of the cabinet he was rummaging through and giving her an odd look he replied, "Videl, just tell me."

"Okay, you asked for it. I'm pregnant," she answered. He dropped the bowl he was holding and it splintered into a thousand or more pieces.

"What!" was the next thing he said before slumping to the ground. Videl giggled and got out the broom and dustpan. Before she could start to sweep up the broken glass, Gohan was back on his feet, doing the job for her.

"I'm not made of glass you know," she told him. He just went on sweeping.

* * *

7 months later

Videl sighed. Her back was killing her. A sharp pain hit her left side and she glared. Gohan came in, carrying a sundae for her.

"Thanks," she told him before ripping into the ice cream.

"You're welcome honey," he replied.

"HONEY! I want some!" She said, stopping with the spoon in midair between her mouth and the cup it was in.

"I have to go, but you know Kat, the woman next door, she's coming over until I get back, okay?" He told her.

"Don't go!" She said, clutching his arm, afraid that she was being to mean and he'd leave her forever. That's what her father had done. He'd left her mother, taking Videl with him for reasons unknown.

"I'll be back in a few hours," he replied, kissing her gently on the lips. "I love you," he told her before walking out the door. She started to cry; sure he'd leave her forever to raise their child alone. Kat came over and left about twenty minutes before Gohan got home.

"Hello," Gohan called through the apartment.

"Gohan!" Something yelled as Gohan was hit by something. It was Videl, sobbing gently.

"Why are you crying?" He asked, though he knew why. She got mad and said he didn't care for her if he didn't ask.

"I thought you'd leave me forever!" She said. After he calmed her down, the two played a game of Scrabble to have something to do. Videl felt something wet and knew it was time.

"It's time," she told him. His face went pale and Gohan started rushing around, grabbing things Videl would need at the hospital. Halfway to the hospital, he realized he was alone. He rushed back home and got Videl. She rushed into the birthing room while he was told to wait.

And wait he did. After five hours, he was told Videl had had the child. It was a girl and both mother and child were waiting for him in their room.

"Son Pan," he said, seeing the child. Videl nodded and added, "Son Pan Chichi. She's named for both of our mother's."

"Can I hold her?" He asked, afraid. The baby, his, he realized with a gulp, was so fragile looking and he had no doubts that he could easily harm or even kill her without thinking about it. Videl giggled and said he could. She showed him how to hold a baby, and while the guy told the baby stories of her heritage, Videl slept. Two days later and baby Pan and Videl came home. The first thing Videl did was sleep in her bed while Gohan watched Pan, who also slept. Looking around the apartment, he found it a royal mess and began to clean. Pan, who woke while he was cleaning, began to cry. Not wanting Videl to wake, he sat down in the chair and held the child close to his heart. For some reason, he started singing. As he rocked in the chair he was in, words to a song, the song of his soul, formed and he shared them with the being known as Son Pan Chichi, named for her noble grandmothers, Pan Andrea Satan and Son Chichi Muar(1).

"For a long time I was in love.  
Not only in love, but I was obsessed,  
With a friendship that no one else could touch.  
It didn't work out; I'm covered in shells.  
And all I wanted was the simple things.  
A simple kind of life.  
I'm so ashamed, I've been so mean.  
I don't know how it got to this point.  
I was always the one with all the love.  
You came along and changed it all.  
And all I wanted was the simple things.  
A simple kind of life.  
Like a sad puppy waiting at night,  
And all I wanted was the simple things,  
A simple kind of life.  
I always thought I'd be a scholar,  
Sometimes I wanted to be a fighter,  
The longer I waited,  
The more I wished to leave.  
Now all those simple things  
Are simply too complicated for my life.  
How'd I get so faithful to my freedom?  
A selfish kind of life.  
When all I ever wanted was the simple things,  
A simple kind of life."

It was a song he sang. He'd always known parts of it, but a few parts, such as his indecisiveness about which path to take were new. He liked the song though. It truly did fit him so well. Little did he know; it was the song of his soul.

* * *

5 years later

"Mommy, I don't wanna go to school. I've never been to the surface before," a four-year-old cutie with raven hair and crystalline blue eyes said, tears welling.

"Sweetie, it's okay, I'll be with you and so will Mara," Videl comforted her tiny daughter. The girl's tears stopped at the mention of her friend.

"Mommy, hurry up!" The sweet pea named after her grandmother's said, changing personalities in a flash. Her mother laughed and walked her daughter to the trains that led to the surface.

"Panny!" Mara said on seeing her friend. The two hugged and began to talk about all the things they'd get to see and do.

"Pan, get back here, you need to put on this coat," Videl told her daughter when they reached the surface.

"You too Mara," Mara's mother called to her daughter.

"Why?" Asked Pan.

"Because, you remember how it's cold in the freezer right?" Videl started. Pan nodded. "Well right now, on the surface, it's just like that. Cold," Videl concluded. The four walked out onto the surface into a winter wonderland.

"Mommy, I'm cold," Mara and Pan told their mothers at once. The two mothers shot each other a look and smiled. "Well then we better hurry and get to the nice warm school," Videl told her daughter. As they boarded the train that would take them about two miles inland to the school, Pan spotted some boys about ten throwing snowballs.

"Mommy what are those boys doing?" Asked the child.

"They're throwing snowballs sweetie," Videl explained.

"What's a snowball?" Asked Pan.

"It's a ball of snow that you throw at people," Videl told her daughter.

"Okay. But Mommy, what's snow?" Was Pan's reply.

"You see that white stuff on the ground?" Videl started.

"Yeah."

"That's snow. It's really, really cold, but you can eat it. It's really soft," Videl tried to explain.

"Can I eat some snow?" Pan asked.

"Maybe after school," Videl laughed. The train stopped near the front of the school. Everyone got off.

"Mommy, what's that?" Asked Pan, pointing up.

"What's what sweetie?" Videl asked, looking to where her daughter was pointing.

"The big blue thingy with all the white thingies in it," Pan said, describing the sky.

"The sky," Videl replied.

"What's the sky?" Pan asked.

"Ask your father when he gets home because honey, I have no idea," Videl told her daughter. Pan was disappointed by this answer but got over it.

"Bye mommy!" Pan yelled as she rushed inside the school with her class as they followed the teacher.

"Bye honey," Videl said to thin air. She stood outside the school for a few minutes when a hand touched her shoulder.

"It's always hard seeing them grow up, but it's hardest with your first," Mara's mother told Videl, speaking from experience. Mara was the youngest of four and the only girl. "There will be a day when you look forward to school starting," Mara's mother added. Videl wiped the small tear that formed away and headed into the town to get some things she couldn't get from within the dome.

* * *

6 years later

"Get out of here, we don't like your kind!" Some boys yelled, throwing rocks at the group. Pan was now ten. She was walking to school from the train's stopping point. Mara, Jena, Alexi, and Pan were friends and hung out together.

"Yeah, go back to your dome!" Another boy yelled. A rock hit Mara's arm and the wound started to bleed.

"Why you!" Pan yelled. She charged at the boy who had hurt Mara. Tackling him, she started to punch him with a fury. Later, when she went home, her mother scolded her. When she was supposed to be asleep, she needed a drink of water, so she went to get one. As she passed her parents' bedroom, she stopped.

"Gohan, she's starting to fight," her mother said.

"And that surprises you how?" Pan heard her father say.

"I'm worried about the damage she'll do," Videl said.

"Don't worry, everything will be okay," Gohan replied.

"I hope so," Pan heard her mother say quietly.

"I know so," Gohan's voice said reassuringly. They didn't say anymore and Pan went to her room.

* * *

2 years later

"Bye mom, see you this afternoon!" Pan called. It was her twelfth birthday. Her mom just told the girl to have a good day. Pan would have said goodbye to her father but he had already left. He was gone constantly due to the fact that he knew how the dome was run.

"Wait up!" Pan's friend, Mara, yelled. Pan waited for the girl to catch up. "Happy birthday!" Mara said, handing Pan her present. It was a charm bracelet with her name on it.

"Mara, thank you so much!" Squealed the birthday girl. The two hurried to the train that would take them out of the 75 degrees Fahrenheit dome and to the outside world. Both put on the coats offered to them and went to their school.

"I hate coming to school; it's so cold up here," Jena, another dome girl and a friend of Pan's said aloud. Pan and her friend agreed. They preferred the warmth of the dome to the frozen world above. At least they didn't have to worry about people picking on them anymore. Not since Pan had seriously harmed a boy who'd hurt Mara. Now people left the dome kids alone, but the silence was worse than the jeers and rocks.

"At least it's not always cold here," Mara replied. Everyone nodded in agreement. They reached the school and went to their separate classrooms.

About midday, an earthquake hit. Earthquakes hit the area often so everyone knew what to do. But this one was different. It was longer and stronger than any other before. A girl, hair raven black, eyes a crystalline blue, and skin so fair arose from the destroyed elementary school like the mythical phoenix arose from the ashes of its own destruction.

There was a trickle of blood running down the side of her head where she had been hit by a small beam. Luckily, she hadn't been harmed much. Nothing seemed to harm the girl.

"Who am I?" She asked. The winds empty howl was her only answer. She instinctively knew that her parents were dead and that she was all alone. A slight cling caught her attention and she looked at her wrist. There lay a charm bracelet, the word Pan engraved in one of the charms.

"Am I Pan? Is that my name? Until I know for sure, it is," she decided, speaking aloud. Getting up and leaving the death and destruction behind her, she began a long trek.

"I'll find my family. I'll find who I really am. You just wait and see," she declared to the world as a vow she promised to never break. For a year she wandered. Sometimes she was given things, other times she stole what she needed.

She stumbled and fell on the grass in front of a large building. Something had called her here, that she was sure of.

"Mom! Bring me a senzu!" A voice, male she thought, yelled. Footsteps rushed and she blacked out. When she came to, she was on a couch, lying down.

"Are you okay?" Asked a girl's voice. Pan opened her eyes and found a girl with blue hair sitting next to her. Pan nodded yes.

"My name's Bulla, Bulla Briefs," said the girl.

"Pan. My name is Pan," replied the black haired girl. "Where am I?" Asked Pan.

"You are at the infamous Capsule Corp," Bulla replied. Capsule Corp, she'd heard that before.

"Oh," replied the weary girl who laid her head back down. Maybe here she would find her answers thought the girl. If only she knew how right she was on that matter.

* * *

A/N: I was rereading this and saw a few grammatical errors. Nothing new added, just me being obsessive about proper grammar.

No, Pan is not an idiot when she first starts school, it's just that, in case you hadn't caught on, she lives in an underwater dome and has never been on the surface before, or at least before and can remember being there. As for Videl not able to explain what the sky is, if you don't like how I have it telling Pan to ask Gohan, tell me what you think Videl should have said.

Also, the bullying thing, seriously, this is a prejudiced community. Sorry, but it is. How else can it be real? The parents wish to live in the dome and have negative feeling towards those who do because the y believe that they should be the ones living in the dome. Their kids pick up on their parent's bad attitudes and take out the anger they have for no reason on the dome kids, which is any kid that lives in the dome.

Why don't they go to school in the dome?

If you had paid attention, you would have picked up on the fact that it's stated that there is only so much room in the dome and so the schools get put on the surface. And for the whole, Pan prefers the jeers and rocks to the silence, well, honestly, wouldn't you prefer to know what people were saying about you?

(1) Umm, the way this is done may not make sense but I'll do a quick explanation. This is based on Korean and Japanese. I know in Korea, it's the tradition for a woman to have her last name become her first and her maiden name her last. I added the Son, since she is obviously a member of the Son family. That's the part based on Japanese. The reason I know the Korean thing is because some of my family members are Korean.


End file.
